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The chemical ecology approach to modern and early human use of medicinal plants

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Abstract

The chemical environment, and the natural resources available in which our species has evolved has been crucial for the establishment of our medical practices. Here we present a brief review of the insights provided by chemical ecology to understand the evolution of medical practices since ancestral hominids to modern humans, as well as their implications for the search for new drugs of natural origin. Like for any other mammal, ecological and evolutionary processes have shaped how we relate to plant and animal chemicals, whether to avoid, transform and/or explore these compounds according to our needs. In addition, culture has played a key role in the way these chemicals are perceived by people and how they can be processed by different modes of use for ingestion, as well as providing cultural significance for their use (in medicine, for example) or their rejection altogether.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001. Contribution of the INCT Ethnobiology, Bioprospecting and Nature Conservation, certified by CNPq, with financial support from FACEPE (Foundation for Support to Science and Technology of the State of Pernambuco—Grant number: APQ-0562-2.01/17). ISF thanks to CAPES/FACEPE (PNPD program) for providing a post-doctoral scholarship (Grant numbers: APQ-0700-2.05/16 and BCT-0259.22-05/17). Thanks to CNPq for the productivity grant awarded to UPA, and to the post-doctoral fellowship (151518/2018-1) granted to ALBN. To the reviewers who improved our paper with their comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução de Sistemas Socioecológicos (LEA), Departamento de Botânica, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Av. Prof. Moraes Rego, 1235, Cidade Universitária, Recife, Pernambuco, 50670-901, Brazil

    Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque, André Luiz Borba do Nascimento, Leonardo Silva Chaves, Ivanilda Soares Feitosa, Joelson Moreno Brito de Moura, Paulo Henrique Santos Gonçalves & Risoneide Henriques da Silva

  2. Programa de Pós-graduação em Etnobiologia e Conservação da Natureza, Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Rua Dom Manoel de Medeiros, s/n, Recife, PE, 52171900, Brazil

    Leonardo Silva Chaves, Joelson Moreno Brito de Moura & Risoneide Henriques da Silva

  3. Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Alagoas, Santana do Ipanema, AL, 57500-000, Brazil

    Taline Cristina da Silva

  4. Universidade de Pernambuco, Campus Petrolina Rodovia BR 203, Km 2, s/n-Vila Eduardo, Petrolina, PE, 56328-903, Brazil

    Washington Soares Ferreira Júnior

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  1. Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque
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  2. André Luiz Borba do Nascimento
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  3. Leonardo Silva Chaves
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  4. Ivanilda Soares Feitosa
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  5. Joelson Moreno Brito de Moura
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  6. Paulo Henrique Santos Gonçalves
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  7. Risoneide Henriques da Silva
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  8. Taline Cristina da Silva
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  9. Washington Soares Ferreira Júnior
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Contributions

UPA and WSFJ: conceptualized the study, contributed to writing, and edited the final draft of the manuscript. ISF, LSX, PHG, ALBN, TCS, and RHS: contributed to writing and edited the final draft of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque or Washington Soares Ferreira Júnior.

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Albuquerque, U.P., do Nascimento, A.L.B., Silva Chaves, L. et al. The chemical ecology approach to modern and early human use of medicinal plants. Chemoecology 30, 89–102 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00049-020-00302-8

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